Republicans unveil changes to mining bill

Environmental protections get attention in iron mine plan

Feb. 4, 2013

Republican state Rep. Mark Honadel / AP

Written by

Scott Bauer

Associated Press

MADISON — Supporters of an iron ore mine planned for northern Wisconsin proposed new regulations Monday they said would better protect the environment in response to concerns raised by Democrats who are trying to block the effort.

But some of the loudest critics balked at the modifications, calling them “baby steps” that don’t do enough to protect the state’s water and other natural resources.

“You can’t put enough lipstick on the swine animal this bill started out to be,” said state Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo.

Republicans who control the Legislature, along with Republican Gov. Scott Walker, have been moving quickly to pass the mining bill, saying it will create jobs and boost the economy of northern Wisconsin. Democrats, environmentalists and other opponents say any jobs are years away and more environmental protections are needed.

Democrats don’t have enough votes to stop the measure, but moderate Republicans in the Senate who have expressed reservations about the proposal could provide the votes needed to get changes that Democrats would support.

Mining company Gogebic Taconite, which is looking to build a new $1.5 billion mine in the Penokee Hills near Ashland, helped write the bill.

Republican Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder said changes to the proposal unveiled Monday were the result of discussions with Assembly Democrats and a consideration of an alternate mining bill put forward by Democratic Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville.

“I believe now, even though we had a good bill, we have an even better bill,” said Rep. Mark Honadel, R-South Milwaukee, whose district includes the home of Bucyrus International, a manufacturer of mining equipment.

Under the changes proposed by Republicans was a requirement that the state enter into a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers related to the timeline of granting or denying a permit and any other issue.

As introduced, the Republican bill establishes a 420-day deadline for the state Department of Natural Resources to act on a mine permit application and allows one 60-day extension. But officials with the Corps of Engineers have said its permitting process takes at least two years. Democrats and other critics say those different timelines could result in separate permitting processes, which would raise costs and lengthen the time for approval.

Democrats have called for lengthening the state deadline to two years.

Republicans said requiring the memo of understanding will insure the state and Army Corps are working together and can extend the 420-day timeline if necessary.

The modified bill also would change how tax revenue on iron ore sales is distributed. Sixty percent would still go to local governments near the mine, but the other 40 percent would go to the state’s general fund instead of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the semi-private agency in charge of job creation.

Democrats had proposed giving 70 percent of the tax revenue to local businesses with the other 30 percent tied to loans and grants to businesses within 100 miles of the mine.

Cullen said he opposed putting a portion of the tax revenue in the general fund, instead of giving it to WEDC, because it wouldn’t necessarily benefit the economy near the mine.

Another change to the bill announced Monday was a requirement that mining companies to pay for wetland assessment, mandating long-range planning to study environmental impacts 250 years in the future and prohibiting the DNR from issuing an exemption to requirements under the law if it would have significant adverse effects on the environment outside of the mining site.

Democrats proposed allowing public challenges to be filed during the permitting process. The original Republican bill would bar any public challenges until after the DNR makes its decision. No changes to that were announced Monday.

Cullen, the Democrat who proposed his own mining bill, said he still can’t support the Republican measure even with the inclusion of some of his ideas.

“They’ve begun some baby steps in the right direction,” he said of Republicans. “It’s an ever-so-slightly better bill than it was before. … They’ve started to move to where the people of Wisconsin want them to be.”

Republican-controlled committees in both the Senate and Assembly were scheduled to take up the changes on Wednesday and vote on advancing the bill in each house. From there, it will go to the budget committee, which also is controlled by Republicans, before heading for debate in the Senate and Assembly.